At the outbreak of war in August 1914, only three obsolete ships and two recently-acquired submarines protected Canada's west coast. Canadians feared that German cruisers might attack merchant ships or bombard cities and towns. After these attacks failed to materialize, many vessels and personnel were transferred to the Atlantic to deal with the growing German submarine threat.

This torpedo, which formed part of HMCS Niobe's armament before the war, is also the type used by early Canadian submarines.

Niobe's armament included this and other torpedoes and the underwater tubes required to launch them. Capable of damaging or sinking ships, the torpedoes complemented Niobe's numerous guns. When Canada acquired two submarines in August 1914, several of Niobe's torpedoes, which would work in the submarines' tubes, were quickly shipped to Esquimalt to arm the new vessels.